Writer's Room Members for Hasbro Cinematic Universe Revealed

Hasbro has announced the members of its Hasbro Cinematic Universe Writer's Room that they hope will kick off a slate of non-Transformers movies based on their properties. The list is impressive with a diverse writing style group with backgrounds in movies, TV, and comic books. The goal is to create story ideas for a unified universe of movies for G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. and ROM toy lines.

Members:
Akiva Goldsman - oversee the room (A Beautiful Mind)
Brian K. Vaughn (Ex Machina, Y: The Last Man [how is this not a TV series?], Saga, Under the Dome)
Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Spider-Man 2)
Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel)
Lindsey Beer (Kingkiller Chronicle)
Cheo Coker (Luke Cage)
John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein (Spider-Man: Homecoming)
Joe Robert Cole (People vs OJ Simpson, Black Panther)
Jeff Pinkner (Fringe, The Dark Tower)
Nicole Riegel (Dogfight)
Geneva Robertson (Tomb Raider)

You may have noticed that this room has a higher female component then is normal for..well any Hollywood project really. That is because while these properties have traditionally been aimed at boys, Hasbro is hoping to avoid doing that this time around. “Female empowerment is a central theme through a lot of these properties and one of the reasons we wanted diverse voices,” [said Hasbro CCO Stephen Davis].

Clearly Akiva Goldsman took his Transformers experience and learned from it. The dozen writers blow what was assembled for the Transformers Writers Room out of the water. Brian K. Vaughn's writing history alone is responsible for most of the boom but still. This group has a very strong emphasis on imagination with most of the writers previously displaying a strong sense of story structure and character development. By contrast the TF writer's room had a very strong emphasis on spectacle with a dash of story structure and character development skill. Sounds overly critical and unimportant but that reverse and incorrect emphasis is how you get something like Batman v Superman. To put it more bluntly, spectacle is easy. Story and character is hard. This group makes the hard stuff look easy. Considering the properties they are tackling have languished for nearly 30 years (and often for good reason), it is going to be interesting to see what comes from their ideas over the next few years. The first meeting of the group will occur on Monday.

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Hasbro Signs Deal for Transformers Attraction in China

Deadline is reporting that Hasbro has signed a deal with China's DMG Entertainment for "Transformers Live" attraction in an unspecified city in China by 2017. One of the executives involved said "Transformers Live will be a cross between an action-adventure spectacle, a theme park attraction and a theatrical show. Fans will experience intense action, beautiful visual moments, an emotionally engaging story, lots of humor and rousing music." Disney, Dreamworks Animation and Universal are all planning to open theme parks in China over the next few years so things like this will probably continue with Hasbro and other Hollywood franchises, especially since China is estimated to surpass the United States in box office revenue by 2017.

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Merry Christmas from BW Megatron

In a now yearly tradition (think five running but not sure), the voice of Beast Wars Megatron David Kaye has posted his yearly Merry Christmas video in the voice of the character. Merry Christmas to all!

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Hasbro Cinematic Universe Officially Announced

While this isn't Transformers news, I figure 70s and 80s toy fans might find it interesting. Hasbro has revealed they are planning the Hasbro Cinematic Universe for five of their properties. This universe currently does not include Transformers. The properties are G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K., and ROM. It isn't clear if this means five movies, a single movie or some combination in between. GI Joe 3 is already in the very early planning stages so my guess is it would like be a gateway to one or more movies of the other properties. This is what Akiva Goldsman was pulled off of scripting Transformers 5 to lead the Hasbro Writers Room for. I have fond memories of M.A.S.K. and GI Joe but the others are just names I have heard. If I recall they were not really that successful at the time so their choice for a return is an interesting one on Hasbro's part. I am also curious to see much they will re-invent the lines from scratch as it seems that long dormant properties of Micronauts, Visionaries, MASK, and ROM are essentially blank slates for them to do whatever they want.

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RIP George Coe

Long time character actor George Coe died July 18th at the age of 86 with a career that spanned more than 50 years. For today's fans you might remember his voice as Wheeljack/Que in Transformers: Dark of the Moon but more likely as Woodhouse on Archer. His voice over work included roles in video games (Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, The Elder SCrolls V) and in cartoons (Legend of Korra, Star WArs: The Clone Wars). When acting he as appeared on a wide genre of shows be it Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural, Curb Your Enthusiasm and many more including the first season of Saturday Night Live. He also received an Oscar nomination for short film in 1968. Condolences to his family.

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James Horner 1953-2015

Oscar winner and decades long composer James Horner died Monday when his plane crashed near Santa Barbara. The composer, probably most famous for the score to Titanic, was 61. He probably wasn't world famous but should have been for his music was some of the greatest created in the modern era. His scores include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (whose queues continued to be use for decades after), Avatar, Aliens, A Beautiful Mind, An American Tail, Fields of Dreams, Apollo 13, The Rocketeer, and many more. Some of my favorite music includes his scores including Searching for Bobby Fischer, Glory, Bicentennial Man, and Braveheart. He really was one of Hollywood's great composers and a loss to music in general. I know this isn't Transformers related but I was a huge fan of this music composer and you may be too even if don't realize it if check out his list of film scores. Condolences to his family.

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Free Digital Copy of Transformers 1 from Google Play

For probably today only (3-5-15), Google Play is offering a free digital copy of the first Transformers movie from the Google Play store. To redeem you will need a Google/Gmail account and either a credit card or Pay Pal account tied into the account. However, nothing is charged. The idea is probably to encourage those that have not done that will go ahead and add a payment record of some kind to facilitate future impulse buying. Personally I recommend doing it anyway because every few months Google Play offers a free movie and about once a month a free album. Any case click here to add Transformers to your Google Play digital collection.

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Transformers Humble Bundle 2 Charity Available Now

For the second time Hasbro and joined with Humble Bundle to create a DRM free Transformers comic collection to benefit the Hasbro Children's Fund. Available from now until Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at 11am Pacific you can get nearly the entire current run of Transformers/Transformers: Robots in Disguise #1-37 and Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #1-34 assuming you decide to go at least $5 above the donation average. At a value of $155 you can't beat the deal. These purchases are not tied into Comixology or other online retailer.

If ordering I recommend creating a Humble Bundle account first and then log in before donating. That way it automatically ties your purchase to your account to re-download if need to in the future. After donating you will receive an email that directs you to the site to download the books in your preferred format. If interested in the .cbz format of the books, the readers I use is ComicGlass for iPad/iPhone, Cover for Windows 8 and Perfect Viewer for Android. If go with epub format, Play Books from Google will probably more that meet your needs in most cases and includes syncing across devices.

The press release is here. The donate for the Transformers Humble Bundle 2 click here.

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The Return of the Go-Bots?

It looks like Hasbro is looking to finally make use of the Gobots. The company has filed for a new Go-Bots trademark for "distribution of motion pictures, ongoing television programs" and "Toys, games and playthings, namely, toy vehicles and accessories for use therewith".

The franchise was created by Tonka in 1984 which had rushed developed the franchise to compete with the sudden success of Transformers by licensing the toy designs from Bandai (so basically the toys not good enough for Hasbro to license when developing Transformers). The franchise was acquired by Hasbro in 1991 when Tonka took on too much debt when it purchased the now defunct toy company Kenner in 1987. Since the 80s toy designs were owned by Bandai, only names from the franchise have appeared here and there in various other toy lines and Transformers toys over the years.

Even if Hasbro owned the toy designs, I don't see them bothering to re-create the 80s version of the Go-Bots in any form. I suspect this new trademark application is to create a new line of toys with a TV cartoon/commercial series. The movie aspect is just tacked on because why not, the line could be enough of a success to warrant it. I could see it as a sub-line of Transformers, maybe directed at kids but really with such a generic name more likely is it will be a completely different idea with a gimmick that has nothing to do with transforming. Thanks to Silver Knight for the link.

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Epic Movie Explosions for the New Year

Here is an epic explosion super cut from Screen Junkies (with multiple use of Transformers scenes) to ring in the new year. Happy New Year!

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Transformers: The Movie Soundtrack on Vinyl Pre-Order

For those looking to purchase and interesting gift for a Transformers fan, here is one. On December 23, 2014 the soundtrack to 1986's Transformers: The Movie will be released on Vinyl (maybe for 1st time, can't recall). Vinyl refers to large records that went out of style back in the 80s when replaced by CDs but Audiophiles consider them the best source for music. You can now pre-order a vinyl copy from Amazon for $47.99. If not a fan of Vinyl, you can also use the link to download the MP3 digital copy of the soundtrack for $8.99. Please use link above so this site gets credit (which gets converted to Amazon gift cards).

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IDW and Hasbro Introduces The Transformers Humble Bundle for Charity

With the start of the San Diego Comic-Con, IDW and Hasbro has started "The Humble Transformers Bundle" for a great potential deal for Transformers digital comic book deal where proceeds will go to Hasbro's Children's Fund. It lets you choose your own price but if pay at least $15 you get the best deal with the full bundle of 12 trade paper backs or over 100 comics if choose to pay at least $15 for the bundle. This includes 48 issues of Marvel's Transformers comics, all 21 issues of the All Hail Megatron, Autocracy, Spotlight volume 1 and first two volume each of the current series Robots in Disguise and More Than Meets the Eye. These are not tied into Comixology or other online retails.

I recommend creating a Humble Bundle account first, then log in before donating. That way your purchase is tied into your account to re-download if need to in the future. I donated $30, after that I received an email that directed me to the site to download the books in my preferred format. If interested in the .cbz format of the books, the readers I use is ComicGlass for iPad/iPhone, Cover for Windows 8 and Perfect Viewer for Android. If go with epub format, Play Books from Google will probably more that meet your needs in most cases and includes syncing across devices. Below is the video about the promotion. Click here to order your bundle for yourself or a friend.

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Autobots vs Decepticons Transformers Trilogy Super Cut

Below is a 20 minute super cut that takes all the action scenes of the Autobots and the Decepticons fighting (so not just on screen but engaged in combat) from the first three Transformers films. The order of the scenes and how they are segmented almost comes across as completely random. For example the forest fight sequence from Revenge of the Fallen gets split into about 6 pieces, segmented out kind of evenly through the 20 minutes but are not in the fight sequence order.

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Vote for Favorite New Transformers 4 Vehicle

If you are bored, MichaelBay.com has posted a quick poll thats asks "Which is your favorite Transformers so far?". Considering we don't know the character names for most of the new vehicles being used in Transformers 4, I decided to interpret the question as "what is your favorite new alt mode vehicle?". The vehicle line-up is here. You can vote here. If voting on favorite TF from the list, Optimus Prime is an easy win but if choosing favorite vehicle from list then my choice is the Bugatti. What is yours?

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Transformers Age of Extinction Cheat Sheet

This is a "cheat sheet" for Transformers 4 that attempts to summarize the details on the movie as it comes in. As a result consider this a Spoiler Warning. Verified means the information either came from someone associated with the film (an actor, director, producer, etc.) or through mainstream press (CNN, THR, etc.) so unlikely to be false (but no guarantees). Feel free to comment on any inaccuracies or new info that isn't reflect in the sheet. The below is ultimately speculation and rumor until officially confirmed through those with the production of the film.
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Rumor: New Characters for Transformers 4

JoBlo.com is reporting their sources have revealed some of the potential Transformers characters and brief story points that might be in Transformers 4. JoBlo's track record is iffy at best but that doesn't mean this isn't one of the times they get it right so spoiler warning. None of this is remotely confirmed so take it with a grain of salt. If the previous movies are any indication, it will be a while before we have any real information on what TF characters will be in the movie. Thanks to Wynton R. for the heads-up.

Rumored TF Characters:
• Optimus Prime - rides Grimlock into battle in Hong Kong
• Bumblebee - rides Swoop into battle in Hong Kong
• Grimlock and the Dinobots - as Autobots somehow "brought back to life by a captured Optimus Prime"
• Lockdown - as Decepticon
• Hound - as Autobot
• Drift - as former Decepticon, now Autobot trying to regain his honor (yep the IDW comic character)
• Galvatron - "basically Megatron reborn"; unclear if summarizing the character as potentially used in the movie or his Transformers: The Movie (1986) origin

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Walhberg's Character Named, TF4 Prepping in Austin

Examiner.com is reporting that Transformers 4 is expected to start principal photography "beginning late May, 2013" and as started looking for extras in the area and LA for the film. In addition, while summarizing the casting of the film, they provided the name of Mark Wahlberg's father character as Flynn Vincent joining the only other named role of Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer). Details on the Austin extras casting is here. Thanks to Sam and Wynton for the heads-up.

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Transformers 4 Heading to Texas; Bay Scouts Chicago

You can add Austin, Texas area to the list of locations that Transformers 4 will be shooting this summer. According to Dallas News (via Seibertron), sometime in June the production will be in the small towns of Lockhart, Taylor, Elgin and Pfugnerville. In Taylor the plan is to close downtown and a railroad overpass with a car explosion set for Robinson Park. For Lockhart, the Caldwell County Courthouse will be used. The cities are part of a chase between the Autobots and Decepticons through Central Texas. Filming is expected to start in June (location unknown) with production hitting Detroit, Chicago, Hong Kong, and other unknown locations in China.

Speaking of Chicago, Bay was spotted scouting locations in the city on April 25th. Locations he and his crew checked out include LaSalle Street near Randolph Street up to the Board of Trade Building. Not sure what can gleam from that story wise but mostly reinforces that TF4 is coming soon to the area. Thanks to Wynton R. for the links.

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Transformers 4 Heading to Hong Kong in September

Twitch.tv has posted an (unconfirmed) overview of the shooting schedule for Transformers 4. It seems the movie will have an almost five month shooting schedule from June to October. The production will be in Chicago and Michigan for June, July and August plans not specified, then in September head to Hong Kong, and then mainland China in October as part of the co-production agreement between Paramount and the country. The site said that Michael Bay is interested in shooting in Sham Shui Po district west of North West Kowloon which is described as "one of the oldest and most densely populated areas of Hong Kong." Thanks to Wynton R. for the link.

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TF Linkfest - Exiles and Mockups

Time for another linkfest. This one covers a wider variety from the Transformers world of accessories. This go around includes more 3rd party toys, Masterpiece improvements, news of upcoming releases, computer accessories, new TF book, and an interesting toy related video.

TFC Dinobots Prototype Image
ACToys posted a single image look at the TFC next wave of toys inspired by the Generation One Dinobots. The image shows a prototype look at not Swoop and not Grimlock. There is a rumor of a not Dinobot combiner but not sure if this is part of that or not.

Alex Irvine, writer of Transformers: Exiles, InterviewThe next novel set in the War for Cybertron universe is out now. The writer, Alex Irvine, spoke with Suvudu about the novel. It seems, at least from the interview, that things are drifting away from the movies and now moving these prequel stories so the align more with the Transformers: Prime universe. The movies may continue to inspire ideas (the Allspark, original Primes, etc) but it seems that for the purposes of Hasbro's current TF continuity, the Autobot experience on Earth will those depicted in TF: Prime. The Exiles story will explore Cybertronian colonies like Junkion, more about the Thirteen, and more about the Optimus and Prime conflict that is the heart of the civil war.
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